Pre-Match Thoughts: Nelson Previews Blackpool Clash

Defender Curtis Nelson believes Derby County's supporters can play a huge part in the remaining home games this season.

The Rams have just three games left to go at Pride Park Stadium in the 2023/24 Sky Bet League One season and Nelson says the 'deafening' atmosphere that was on display in the 1-0 home win over Bolton Wanderers just over two weeks ago helped the team get over the line in the game.

Nelson sat down with RamsTV on Wednesday to preview the first of the three of those games, against Blackpool, on Good Friday.

On dealing with the highs and lows during the season...

That's the main takeaway at this stage of the season. We've got to bounce back from the defeat at Northampton last weekend and go and get three points on Friday.

On what went wrong at Northampton...

We weren't at our best as a team and collectively we know we need to do better. We just need to put our chances away, keep the ball out of the net and get the three points. It doesn't matter how we do it at this point in the season, it just matters about how many points we can put on the board.

On his relationship with Eiran Cashin in defence...

He's a great player and he's attracted interest from places which you'd expect with the performances he's been putting in. It's a credit to him and what he's done so far, but we need him to keep going and I need him for the rest of the season to get us where we want to go in defence. He's really easy to get on with. I can't say much bad about him, he's a good character in the changing room.

On developing on-field relationships with players...

It just comes with time. Playing pre-season games and then starting the campaign together was key, I guess, to understanding how he plays and bouncing off each other and how our games compliment each other. He's got pace and power and technically he's very good. We learn off each other and we always help each other out. It's the same when Sonny Bradley plays, the goal is the same and that's to keep a clean-sheet.

On how he's feeling going into the final stretch...

I feel as good as I've felt all season. I'm confident, you can't be over confident with any game but if we perform like we know we can, we can definitely get three points.

On how important the atmosphere will be...

The noise after the goal we scored against Bolton was deafening, so that definitely helps. If we can have that for the remaining home games then that's massive.